Aizawl, July 7: Mizoram agriculture minister H. Rammawi today affirmed that the government was planning to introduce organic farming in the state shortly. Answering a starred question from Congress legislator R. Lalzirliana in the third session of the Assembly which began today, Rammawi said the government had plans to go in for organic farming soon.
The minister said certain fertilisers, pesticides, insecticides and weedkillers made from chemicals that were not harmful for humans would be continued.
Rammawi said chemical fertilisers like urea contain toxic substances, which were unfit for human consumption. Therefore, the use of these chemicals would have to be stopped, he said.
When questioned by Zoram Nationalist Party (ZNP) legislator Andrew Lalherliana about a report that experts had reservations about organic farming, Rammawi said Mizoram could go organic as chemical fertilisers had not yet become indispensable in the state.
?We are not trying to turn the whole state organic at one go. It will be done in phases. It is very important to have a reliable organisation to identify areas where organic farming will be undertaken as both the crop and the soil need to be tested. We know it is difficult for other states to go organic because they have extensively used chemicals for crops and in their lands. It is a fact that 40 per cent of the arable land in the world have been destroyed by chemical fertilisers and insecticides,? Rammawi said.
The minister said China, which uses bio-fertilisers, harvests 50 quintals per hectare of crop, while India, with its chemicals, harvests 20 quintals in the same area.
Tripura dacoity
A fugitive Tripura State Rifles havildar is spreading terror among villagers on the Agartala border by committing dacoities and extorting people, reports our special correspondent from Agartala.
According to reports from North Tripura, the fugitive havildar, Rahid Mia, has been involved in at least three incidents of dacoities, committed in the bordering villages of Dharmanagar and Kailasahar subdivision, over the past two months.
Operating in collaboration with Bangladeshi criminals and dacoits, he has also started an extortion drive. His gang circulates extortion notices among the affluent residents of the bordering villages, accompanied by a stern threat that any information to the police will result in a bloodbath.
Rahid Mia had escaped with a large cache of arms after killing five colleagues in the TSR camp at Shermoontilla under Dharmanagar subdivision of North Tripura in September last year.